BOL China

This case was prepared by Professor Juan Antonio Fernandez, Research Assistant Jennifer Z. Wang and Dongjun Chen at CEIBS. The case was prepared as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. Certain names and other identifying information may have been disguised to protect confidentiality. BOL China was part of the German group Bertelsmann, one of the biggest media groups in the world. The company was the pioneer of e-business in China with the establishment of Bertelsmann on Line (BOL China). The case presents the situation of the company after one year of operations and relates the difficulties of starting an e-business when the infrastructure of the country was limited. It describes the characteristics of e-business and the demands it posed in terms of strategy and operations. Finally, the case also explores the design of a performance measurement system for the e-business, using the Balanced Score-card as a model.